One of the major draws for WordCamp San Francisco is the State of the Word, an address to the entire WordPress community from Matt Mullenweg, who shares some favorite moments from WordPress’s past and some looks into its future. Not surprisingly, this year’s State of the Word did not disappoint. Fortunately, the video was released only a few days after the WordCamp, so those of you who missed it can enjoy it now. Here are some highlights in no particular order: Double the number of WordCamp attendees since last year. 44 million download of WordPress this year, out of 145 million downloads of WordPress since it launched. WordPress 3.5 will feature full support for Apple’s retina displays. Grab Jetpack if you want this now. WordPress 3.5 will be available on December 5 with a new commitment to meet release dates without compromise to stability. There is a new official handbook […]

The scope for WordPress 3.5 has been proposed. Of note, the planned release date is December 5, with release candidates landing around November 14, and a feature freeze at the end of September. WordPress 3.5 will also be introducing the new default Twenty Twelve theme, full support for Apple’s new super-high-definition Retina displays, and improved user experience and image handling. Of course, WordPress 3.5 is still in the planning stages, so these are all subject to change at any time before the feature freeze in September.

Development for WordPress 3.5 is underway as the core development team engage in their first scope session today. With that, they also have a few exciting announcements. After almost three years of service and a few thousand contributions, Andrew Nacin is being promoted to Lead Developer! Some of you may remember when Andrew Nacin got his start with an insignificant twelve-character patch, and with just as much determination, you too could be a Lead Developer some day. After some amazing work through the past few releases, including the new theme customizer and distraction-free writing, Daryl Koopersmith is being granted ongoing commit status. And, thanks to his keen eye on WordPress security, Jon Cave is having his temporary commit status extended through the release of WordPress 3.5. If these sort of promotions get you excited about your future in WordPress, now is the perfect time to get involved.

WordPress 3.4.1 has been released. Besides fixing a few security issues, this release fixes 18 other bugs, including issues with page template detection, category permalinks, and compatibility with certain server setups. At the time of the announcement, WordPress 3.4 had been downloaded 3 million times since its release two weeks ago! It’s a startling achievement, and as many folks often wait for the first point release, that is sure to continue growing now that 3.4.1 is out. This is a security release, so it is recommended for all users. If you run into trouble with WordPress 3.4.1, stop by the master list of known issues and post to the support forums if your problem isn’t covered there.

WordPress 3.4 is finally here! All users can now safely update from Dashboard -> Updates or download and update manually, though you should probably backup first, just in case. Right out of the box, users will notice some great new features, like a new theme customizer, Tweet embeds, HTML support in image captions, and dozens of performance improvements. If you run into trouble with WordPress 3.4, stop by the master list of known issues and post to the support forums if your problem isn’t covered there.

WordPress 3.4 RC 3 has been released with just a few lingering issues fixed since the second release candidate. The core developer team is still planning for the final release of WordPress 3.4 to debut some time this week, so it’s time to give this a good solid test, especially if you are a plugin or theme developer. As you test out the WordPress 3.4 RCs, please review this guide to see what you should keep your eyes on. If you find any bugs, please report them, and contact the support forums if you need any help.

As WordPress 3.4 draws nearer to its inevitable released, Aaron Campbell and Helen Hou-Sandi have joined the ranks of the Contributing Developers! Their improvements to custom headers and the overall Themes interface will really make WordPress 3.4 stand out. If you’re on this release’s credits list, now’s the time to make sure that your profile actually has a name. Here’s hoping that WordPress 3.4 will be the best release yet!

WordPress 3.4 RC 2 has been released with a few changes since the first release candidate. The core developer team is planning for the final release of WordPress 3.4 to debut early next week, so it’s time to give this a good solid test, especially if you are a plugin or theme developer. As you test out WordPress 3.4 RC 2, there are a few important things to watch out for, and this guide covers them in detail, or rather links to the appropriate guides. If you find any bugs, please report them, and contact the support forums if you need any help.

Just a few days ago, Matt Mullenweg had a fascinating fireside chat with Sarah Lacy of PandoDaily. The chat covered such interesting things as the state of the WordPress community, the future of WordPress, working with distributed workforces, and Facebook and Tumblr. At almost two hours in length, it’s certainly a long watch, but well worth it, especially with a nice cold drink this weekend.

About the Author

James

James began using WordPress in 2004. Being new to WordPress (and blogging in general), he quickly found the WordPress Support Forums and basically never left. James currently resides in sunny Southern California, where he enjoys bringing happiness to millions of WordPress.com users.